


Taking the Heat

by Ultra



Series: Moments in Time [17]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Grumpy Eliot Spencer, Love, Love Confessions, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Protective Eliot Spencer, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-25
Updated: 2011-11-25
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: As far as the team are concerned it was all Eliot's fault, but he's just doing his job, protecting those who need it.





	Taking the Heat

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for jesco0307 on LiveJournal as part of a prompt meme.

“What were you thinking, Eliot? Or were you just not thinking at all?” asked Sophie, angry as all hell apparently as she yelled at him, before turning back to the delicate task of tending the cut on Hardison’s head. “Hardison could’ve been killed!”

“He bumped his head on the ground when the goon dropped him is all!” the hitter protested. “They didn’t even hit him.”

“Hey, it still damn hurts!” the hacker threw in, wincing even as Sophie dabbed at him gently with antiseptic. “And this is my head, man, I could have a concussion or something!”

“I checked already, you don’t,” Eliot growled crossly, hating that he was getting blamed for this.

He was stood away from the others, arms folded across his chest as he was berated like a child for some mistake he made. He hated it, but he’d take it if he had to.

“No, he isn’t concussed and he’s not dead, thankfully,” Nate pointed out, “but you screwed up, Eliot,” the Mastermind told him angrily. “You could’ve been too late.”

“Could’ve, but I wasn’t,” the hitter argued some, determined to come out of this with a little pride in his work still intact. “They barely grabbed him before I was there, and we were home free before the other guys showed up.”

“What I’m not understanding is what took you so long,” asked Sophie, and Eliot forced himself to keep his eyes on her and Nate as they spoke, never once straying to the kitchen where Parker was hovering alone.

“I gave you simple instructions,” the Mastermind reminded him. “Just as soon as Parker was out of the vault,” he pointed at her as her name was mentioned, “you were supposed to go take care of things with Hardison, get him out safe whilst Parker took the airvents. Where were you?”

Eliot opened his mouth to answer and closed it again fast. He hadn’t got an explanation or rather he had but he wasn’t prepared to give it. He was man enough to take this abuse, this lack of trust from him team-mates. Other people weren’t so strong, however much as they tried to tell him different.

“I did what I could to keep my team safe, okay?” he told them, honest by lacking the detail they were really after. “Now I’m sorry you got hurt, Hardison, but I did my job and the world didn’t end, so you guys need to get over it, or we’re done here!” he told them angrily, before turning and storming straight out of the apartment and down to McRorys for a much needed drink.

It didn’t take long for her to appear beside him in the booth.

“Why would you do that?” she asked, looking across at him as he shifted the whiskey glass around and around on the table top.

“What?” he asked, barely glancing at her as he swallowed down the rest of the shot and signalled to the nearest waitress for another, plus whatever Parker wanted.

“You let them all yell at you and blame you for Hardison getting hurt,” she reminded him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I shoulda been there.” He shrugged, not even looking at her but everywhere else he could put his eyes.

Parker still didn’t understand.

“You would’ve been there if I hadn’t gone back into the stupid vault for that stupid file,” she practically cursed herself, banging her hands on the table in frustration both times she said ‘stupid’ and catching a little too much attention from the other patrons of the bar.

Eliot caught her hands in his to stop her doing it anymore.

“Yeah, well, they don’t need to know about that,” he reminded her, squeezing her fingers gently. “It’s your business, not theirs.”

Parker nodded that he was right, and his holding her hand was some comfort. Still, it didn’t stop the bubbling frustration and guilt inside of her. Eliot got the blame for something she did and she couldn’t deal with that right now. It didn’t make sense to her and she wasn’t comfortable with him thinking that was okay.

“You could’ve told them it was my fault, even if you didn’t explain how,” she insisted. “I don’t get why you wouldn’t say anything-”

“Because I love you okay?” Eliot told her, perhaps too suddenly and too crossly in a room full of people, and he noticed it a little too late. “I Goddamn love you,” he continued in a much lower voice then, but his eyes still shone bright with the truth of it, “and I knew those guys all yelling at you the way they yelled at me would break your heart. I couldn’t handle that,” he told her truthfully.

Parker wanted to cry though she didn’t really know why she would. Sure, she knew Eliot cared about her, he always had, and lately more than ever. They started hanging out more, away from the team. He’d cook dinner and they’d talk, or they’d go out walking around town in the dark for hours and not even notice how long they were out.

It was a couple of months back that they first slept together. Parker knew it was different, she knew it wasn’t like the other times she had sex, but neither of them ever really put a label on it and nobody mentioned love. Not until now, not until today. Eliot loved her, like nobody ever had before, and Parker wanted to laugh and cry and a whole bunch of other stuff all at the same time that she couldn’t even begin to make sense of. She liked that a lot.

With a grin that was almost too wide for her face she got up and moved around to the other side of the booth, sliding in next to the man that loved her.

“You know I’ll make it up to you later, right?” she told Eliot as she scooched up as close as she could get. “With sex” she clarified plainly.

He couldn’t help but smile at that.

“You better,” he teased her, glancing over her shoulder to see no-one was looking and then kissing her lips. “Let’s get outta here.”


End file.
